Children no longer need to stand out in
freezing weather with wide eyes scanning the night sky in hopes of
seeing Santa Claus’ sleigh. These days, all they need is a computer
and an internet hookup.
For nearly a decade, northern New Mexico’s Los Alamos National
Laboratory has launched a web site on Christmas Eve to track Santa’s
journey around the globe.
The site – – monitors Santa as he leaves the
North Pole and heads west toward the International Date Line.
The hourly updates of his journey begin at 6 a.m. Monday.
Santa will visit China, Mexico and a host of other continents and
regions before bringing his toys to New Mexico at midnight.
“As he travels the world, crossing time zones, he’s chasing midnight,
hour after hour, and delivering his treasure to families everywhere,”
said Diane Roussel-Dupre, the mission control manager for the lab’s
satellites.
When the two Department of Energy satellites aren’t tracking Santa’s
sleigh, they are collecting data on lightning.
“We like to think of our efforts as another way to help spread glad
tidings,” Roussel-Dupre said.